By Nicole

I really meant it when I said I was jealous that I hadn't thought of the If You Give a Mom a Muffin.  See... Don Quixote, ADHD, and Mice with Cookies - July 2007

*Blogger's Note- This was not written by me, it was posted by a friend on Facebook.  Although I am jealous that I didn't think of it first.** If you give a mom a muffin, she'll want a cup of coffee to go with it. So she'll pour herself some. The coffee will get spilled by her three year old. She'll wipe it up. Wiping the floor, she will find some dirty socks. She'll remember she has to do some laundry. When she puts the laundry in the washer, She'll trip over some snow boots and bump into the freezer. Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan supper for tonight. She will get out a pound of hamburger. She'll look for her cookbook. (101 Things To Make With a Pound of Hamburger.) The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail. She will see the phone bill which is due tomorrow. She will look for the checkbook. The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two year old. She'll smell something funny. She'll change the...

First of all, I have to share this link because I love it so much... Courtney Snailum   A few years back, almost three I guess, I did a Proverbs 31 study.  That is a woman that no one will ever be.  Supermom on crack.  Courtney does such a good job of lightheartedly rephrasing that scripture to fit the "average" mom.  But the real reason I am writing this morning is because I went to bed too late last night and got up too early for my liking but too late if I am going to finish everything on my to do list.  My children arose before me and fended for their own breakfast (which made me think of Proverbs 32!). I like to make lists.  I like to check off the things I have done.  Unfortunately, by the time I go back to my list again, the thing I have done and want to check off needs done again! Today I am cleaning and packing and jamming and pickling and meal planning for my family for the week.  I am also (obviously) blogging and Facebooking an...

Well, I am really excited because I am finally able to review a children's book from Booksneeze for the first time.  Night Night Blessings is written by Amy Parker and illustrated by Marijan Ramljak.  The copy I received was a hard back board book.  I read it for myself and then read it to my two and a half year old daughter.  I have to admit that I wasn't a fan of the rhyming attempts... It just read a little choppy at first and didn't rhyme well on certain verses.  However, I really liked the soft, whimsical illustrations. My daughter really liked it.  She was actually throwing a bit of a tantrum when I started the book, but by the time I got to the bubble bath part of the story, she was hooked.  She liked the little pets in the pictures and repeated the end of each verse after I read it.  So overall, a good book.  Any book that can calm a two year old deserves a gold star! Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free fro...

So, Grumble Hallelujah could not have come for a better time than this.  For some reason, I have been super grouchy these days.  None of my reasons are truly valid in the grand scheme of things.  I am sleep-deprived (my fault for staying up late reading or on the computer).  Work is crazy.  I am leading another kid's class at church because no one else will step up and do it (yes, if you can't sense the irritation in my voice.... I am pretty irritated), which means 3 nights a week we aren't even home until after 8 (kids' bedtime).  My house is a pigsty.  My weekend is already full.  I am a hunting "widow".  I don't necessarily like that term, but that's what we call it around here.  So add it all up and you have one snappy mom who is barely grumbling her hallelujahs... Which is so lame because my life is so good! Well last night I ditched on meeting my husband out at elk camp because I knew I had packing and house cleaning to do. ...

Grumble Hallelujah by Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira was written as a book that examines the art of how to praise God through the bad things in our life.  She walks the reader through the steps one has to take before they can fully (and truthfully) be praising God not in spite of the bad, but because of it.  She uses Biblical references that shine a whole new light on that person and passage of Scripture.  She is also blatantly honest about the struggles in her own life and how God has worked in her personally to allow her to praise Him through her circumstance. The book is divided into five parts, with three separate chapters in each.  At the end of every chapter is a "Grumble Hallelujah" prayer and some reflection/discussion questions.  This book is a great read, and I am most likely going to recommend it to my women's Bible Study group.  God has given Caryn some fascinating insight into the Bible and what God intends for our lives when it comes to...

Yesterday I received Our Last Great Hope: Awakening the Great Commission by Ronnie Floyd. It hasn't taken me long to get to a point to be able to review it, because I don't plan on finishing it. I have skimmed multiple chapters, and I have found some truly valuable and convicting messages. Yes, Jesus asked us to go into all the nations and make disciples. Yes, God expects our time and energy to be spent on the things He is calling us to do. Yes, it is on us to allow ourselves to be used by God to spread the saving message of Christ. I don't want to minimize any of these things. They are real and urgent. That's why I requested this book. I wanted a fire lit under my butt. BUT, I just can't hang with name-dropping, self-promotion and business-minded Christianity. Every time I would actually begin to enjoy one of Floyd's stories or explanations of what the Great Commission is about, he would drop another position he had held or the title of an important person he...

Okay, where to start with this one?  First of all, this is probably going to go along with the Bible verse of "Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." And it is going to coincide with a lot of different things that are going on in my life right now and a lot of different frustrations.  I have constantly been reminding myself that I am not the judge and I have no business judging others.... but it is so dang hard not too!!!  So anyway, here goes... and I will start with something a little less stressful. We are going to talk about this show that I have been watching.  I just started watching the first season of Ugly Betty, and while there are some things (okay a lot of things) that I don't support and shouldn't be watching at all probably and that I don't know that if Jesus was in my living room that I would sit and watch that show... okay I probably wouldn't watch any shows and I would try and throw a blanket or something over t...